Chin Chou

Chin Chou

Reputation and relationships are what matter in Asia. We have over two decades of experience in the region, so we have a very strong reputation. We also have 60 investors in the region, so we have the right relationships. Finally, we have the Morgan Stanley name on our business cards which opens doors for us.

Biography

H. Chin Chou is the Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia and a Managing Director of Morgan Stanley, based in Hong Kong. Mr. Chou also serves on the Firm’s Asia-Pacific Executive Committee, which is comprised of the Firm’s senior business leaders within the Asia-Pacific region.

Mr. Chou joined Morgan Stanley in 1987 in New York and has spent nearly 30 years at Morgan Stanley, with the past 24 years in Asia. Mr. Chou has led MSPE Asia’s four private equity funds to date: the $330 million MSGEM Fund (1999), the $525 million Asia Fund II (2005), the $1.5 billion Asia Fund III (2007) and the current $1.7 billion Asia Fund IV, and also oversees the Firm’s China RMB private equity business and Thailand private equity business. Mr. Chou was also part of Morgan Stanley’s Private Equity Group in New York in the late 1980s. He was previously a Director of CTCI, eAccess, ECVision, HTL, Rotem, Itest, Landmark, SsangYong and YesAsia.

Mr. Chou holds a B.A., magna cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. with Distinction from Harvard Business School.

Q&A with Chin

Chin, you have spent almost 20 years in Asia running private equity funds for Morgan Stanley. Tell us how you view Asia as a whole from an investment perspective?

From the outset we recognized that the private equity investment environment in Asia is distinct from the one in developed markets. Asia can be a very attractive place to invest because of the long-term secular growth trends and the rising level of consumption. That’s why investors are interested in gaining exposure to Asian emerging markets. But at the same time, Asia is clearly not for the faint of heart because it is less transparent, subject to shocks and experiences a high level of macroeconomic volatility.

Can you describe your investment approach?

First we start with the countries. Rather than focusing on all Asian countries, we concentrate on four or five, for very specific reasons. We are committed to China and India because they are the world’s largest growth markets. We invest in South Korea and Taiwan because they are leading industrialized economies where we believe we can buy businesses at very attractive valuations. The one country where we haven’t been as active, but we hope to be, is Japan, the second largest economy in Asia.

We tend to concentrate on business models that are well known, where the economics of the business (margins, return on capital, and so forth) enable us to conduct rigorous due diligence. This means that we spend a lot of time searching for opportunities in consumer non-durables, financial services and healthcare. The benefit of location in Asia, particularly in high-growth markets such as China and India, is that these businesses may be able to scale up quicker than their peers in the U.S. and developed Europe where growth rates are lower. One way that we manage risk is to avoid start-ups, restructurings or anything overly complex. In Asia, we’ve only invested in the top three or four businesses in a particular sector. That way we seek to avoid compound emerging market risk with business risk.

Do prefer to take majority or minority stakes in companies?

It depends. In lower growth areas such as Korea, we are almost always the single largest investor. In such markets we often need to make changes at the business level, so it is essential to own a controlling stake in a company. In high growth markets, such as India and China, we are more comfortable taking minority positions. Over the course of our history the size of our investment has ranged from 10%-100% of a company. We do insist on board representation, however, even if we are a minority stakeholder.

We give greater emphasis to domestic rather than export businesses (although we don’t rule out export-oriented companies). Domestic businesses benefit from secular growth trends and can often build intangible brand or distribution value. We favor consumer-related sectors. We like retail businesses like restaurant chains and consumer products; financial services and wealth management companies; healthcare and education companies.

What is unique about sourcing deals in Asia?

At times there is a less formal, less transparent method of deal sourcing in certain markets within the region. In the U.S., a company requiring capital will likely hire a financial advisor, who will then create a competitive process amongst various providers of capital. This clearly benefits the company, as it can often raise capital at the best price. In Asia, the process can be more opaque. I would estimate that north of 85% of our investments have been completed without the presence of a financial advisor for the company. We believe this situation may enable us to acquire high quality companies at prices that are lower than what comparable businesses command in the U.S. and Europe.

Why do you believe that your team is uniquely positioned to succeed in a region that private equity managers often find quite challenging?

We believe reputation and relationships are what matter in Asia. We have over two decades of experience in the region, so we have what we consider to be a very strong reputation. We also have 60 investors in the region, so we have extensive relationships. Finally, we have the Morgan Stanley name on our business cards, which we think opens doors for us.

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